Internship 2008/09

In the 2008/09 financial year, the Department of Communications offered Internships to promising graduates between the ages of 18 and 35 for a period of twelve (12) months.

Most of the positions were based in Pretoria and two positions, were based at ISSA in Grabouw, Western Cape.

In May 2008, Valery Makgetlaneng and Esme Rakau joined the Software Applications unit at ISSA. Relocating from their respective provinces, Limpopo and Gauteng they endeavored on their journey to Cape Town. As most students, they applied for the internship not knowing if their expectations will be met.

The highlights of their successful year at ISSA are listed below.

Experience from the internship:

• One-on-one relations with mentors
• Utilization of classroom experiences in real-working environment
• Build lasting relationships with my colleagues and mentors
• Allowed them to explore and push their abilities
• It showed them what they are capable of doing now and in the future

Name: Mamokone Velry Makgetlaneng Born: Polokwane, Limpopo Qualifications: BSc (Comp. Science + Statistics); Univ. Pretoria Duties at ISSA: Server Configuration: DNS, Mail, Web Troubleshoot Network User Support HTML Skills Transfer; Limpopo and KwaZulu-Natal

Name: Esme Kateko Rakau Born: Johannesburg, Gauteng Qualifications: National Diploma: IT; Vaal Univ. of Technology Duties at ISSA: PHP Programming MySQL Database Administration Server Configuration: DNS, Mail, Web HTML Skills Transfer; FreeState and Limpopo

Feedback from the interns: What did you hope to gain from your internship experience? Esme: "I really just wanted a real-world experience of IT, developing a web application, and that’s exactly what I got." Valery:"This internship was so much more than I had expected. I’ve gained experience on php/mysql programming, networking and IT user support." Most challenging aspects of the internship? Esme: "I’d say my biggest challenge was getting used to the real-time working environment, applying what I’ve learned at university, working on a real application and meeting deadlines." Most rewarding aspects of the internship? Valery:"Honestly, I could not have asked for a better internship. I loved my job and the people I worked with. I’ve gained allot of experience from programming to managing the LAN. Also being introduced to open source software and being able to install and configure various servers."